Channel 10 Auction Announces

2014 Featured Artists

MILWAUKEE – Artwork from five featured artists who’ve created pieces for this year’s MPTV Great TV Auction will be available for bid during the live televised event that airs April 25 through May 3, 2014 on Channel 10.

Original pieces by Lynn Casper of Waukesha, Brian Kuether of Greenfield, JoAnn O’Hare of Waukesha, Steve Slaske of Chicago and Chuck Weber of Waukesha will be showcased.

The Channel 10 auction is a nine-day, on-air fund-raising event hosted annually to support Milwaukee Public Television. Each year, individuals, businesses and local artists donate more than 19,000 items. Viewers across southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois bid for items by telephone. Online bids can be placed in advance of the auction by visiting the great tv auction and clicking on the preview & bid button.

The auction’s 2014 goal is to raise more than $1 million for Milwaukee Public Television. By reaching its goal, the auction will fund approximately 10 minutes of every hour of programming for shows such as “NOVA,” “Sesame Street” and “Great Performances.”

The original work by Casper, Kuether and Weber will be available for bid. A limited number of prints by O’Hare and Slaske will also be auctioned off.

Poster Collection Artist

JoAnn O’Hare of Waukesha is an accomplished photographer and instructor. However, she didn’t begin her professional life behind the lens. Instead, during college, she studied design and printmaking and pursued those artistic career paths.

It was later in life, after raising a family, that she added photography to her creative repertoire. Her late husband actually introduced her to the medium but she took it from there. Her successful 20-year photography career includes teaching workshops for Alverno College - Telesis, UW-Waukesha Continuing Education and Flat Head Community College in Kalispell, Montana. Outside of the classroom, her pieces are recognized nationally and regionally in juried exhibits, galleries and private collections.

O’Hare credits her success to an inquisitive photographer’s eye that guides her to interesting subjects. Early on while traveling in China, Mexico and Cuba, she focused on candid street work, capturing the essence of each locale and its humanity.

Over the years, O’Hare expanded her focus to other subjects, including flowers. Trips to Balboa Park in San Diego introduced her to the delight of photographing easily accessible nature. Poppies in particular caught her eye.

“The poppy is extremely fragile with its paper-thin petals,” says O’Hare. “Since it’s such a delicate flower, it’s always a race against time. You never know when a slight breeze or summer rain will shorten its lifespan.”

After her California introduction to the flower, she established a poppy bed in her own backyard. O’Hare transplanted a small batch of poppies from her family’s 100-year-old farmstead in Union County, South Dakota to her home in Waukesha. She now has a sizable bed of the beautiful perennials.

For the Channel 10 Auction, O’Hare created “Poppies-Papaver Orientale.” The poppies featured are from her backyard garden and were captured in the golden afternoon light of a summer day. It was a bright but overcast day with soft clouds so O’Hare was able to reflect diffused light back into the flower to give it a soft glow.

The original of “Poppies-Papaver Orientale” and a limited edition of 200 posters, along with 10 signed by the artist, will be available for bid.

The Channel 10 Auction holds a special place in O’Hare’s heart since her late husband worked as a producer/director for MPTV and also taught first-year television for many years.